The Hand-Painted Met Gala Gown

Long before the birth charts, Holly Biörklund's paintbrush found its way onto silk. The most famous result: a hand-painted green silk gown, commissioned by Samantha Boardman and worn to the Met Costume Institute Gala in New York in 2015.

Painting the Gown

Holly made the gown herself, in deep emerald silk, and painted it by hand. She worked directly onto the fabric with a fine brush: gold and cream line work across the shoulders and down the skirt, clusters of pale blue flowers, and a sweeping bird across the back. The same fine, flowing line runs through her work today, from murals to the birth charts.

On the Night

Samantha Boardman wore the gown to the Met Costume Institute Gala, and it was later featured in Financial Advisor Magazine's December 2015 holiday guide. It is one of the highlights of Holly's painted fashion work.

From Central Saint Martins to Bergdorf Goodman

The gown grew out of Holly's earlier fashion work. Her freehand-painted collection began as her graduate work at Central Saint Martins in London and was stocked by Browns and Bergdorf Goodman, with coverage in Style Bubble (2013) and Trendland (2014). That work was published under the name Holly Fowler.

Painted in the Stars

Years later, Holly painted another dress: her own, for her island wedding. As Vogue Scandinavia reported in 2022, she designed it after studying her family's astrological charts. It's a thread that runs through Atelier Holly today, in the birth charts and hand-painted couple's chart originals.

Read all the coverage on our Press page, and more about Holly on the About page.

Commission a Hand-Painted Piece

Holly takes on a small number of commissions: hand-painted garments, murals and original artworks. See the process on the Commissions page, or browse more work on Projects.